The Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman says such pressure needed to force Kiev to comply with the Minsk accords, but the US avoids the issue

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova

MOSCOW, August 24. /TASS/. The United States is constantly giving instructions to the Ukrainian authorities and is governing the situation in the ex-Soviet republic in the manual mode, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said in an interview with Life Sound radio station on Wednesday.

"We know that Mr. Biden [US Vice-president Joe Biden] calls Ukraine over the phone like he calls home, several times a week, and gives instructions. And these are only the calls that are officially reported. I can say exactly that a large number of calls are not disclosed at all from the viewpoint of Ukraine’s official contacts," the spokeswoman said.

Such pressure would have been appropriate to force Kiev to comply with the Minsk accords on the political settlement in east Ukraine, the Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman said.

However, when the talk is about bringing Ukraine to account for the disruption of the accords, "no one threatens that loan tranches will be suspended or funds will be recalled," Zakharova said.

This week, the Atlantic magazine online edition posted an interview with US Vice-President Biden, in which the US politician said that the United States had sought from Ukrainian President Pyotr Poroshenko to dismiss former Prosecutor-General Viktor Shokin, threatening to halt issuing a $1 billion loan guarantee to Kiev.